Systems and methods for cloud-based federated records retention compliance orchestration, validation and enforcement

Abstract

Through a cloud-based centralized user interface, a federated compliance system presents a policy of interest and representations of disparate systems that match the policy of interest to a user. The disparate systems, which operate in a distributed network computing environment, can include cloud-based repositories and off-cloud repositories. The federated compliance system can pull the cloud-based repositories through a cloud orchestrator and the off-cloud repositories through an off-cloud orchestrator over a secure tunnel. The federated compliance system utilizes user-provided information on the policy of interest to determine various categories of attributes from different repository schemas employed by the disparate systems. A federated retention policy mapper, implemented as a compliance service, maps the attributes to a common schema, creates a federated retention policy, and stores it in a federated space in the distributed network computing environment. A policy change can be automatically propagated across the disparate systems using the federated retention policy.

What is claimed is: 
     
       1. A method, comprising:
 receiving, by a computer through a user interface, a change to a retention period specified in a federated retention policy, wherein the federated retention policy utilizes a common schema to describe attributes across disparate repositories associated with the federated retention policy, the federated retention policy stored in a federated storage, the disparate repositories residing in a distributed network computing environment and employing different repository schemas comprising the attributes; and 
 responsive to the change to the retention period specified in the federated retention policy, automatically propagating, by the computer, the change to the retention period specified in the federated retention policy to the disparate repositories, the automatically propagating including:
 updating one or more rules of the federated retention policy to reflect the change to the retention period; 
 storing the updated federated retention policy in the federated storage; and 
 communicating the updated federated retention policy, through a compliance service, to a retention policy service, wherein the retention policy service stores the updated federated retention policy in the federated storage, wherein the updated federated retention policy stored by the retention policy service is subsequently retrieved and pushed through an orchestrator to the disparate repositories in the distributed network computing environment, thereby synchronizing the updated federated retention policy to the disparate repositories, wherein the evaluation and application of the one or more rules of the updated federated retention policy is performed by the disparate repositories. 
 
 
     
     
       2. The method according to  claim 1 , wherein the common schema comprises data fields having names consistent across different repository types. 
     
     
       3. The method according to  claim 2 , further comprising:
 creating the federated retention policy by:
 mapping any data fields in the common schema to attributes that are common to the disparate repositories; 
 mapping any data fields in the common schema to attributes that are common to one or more repository types of the disparate repositories; 
 mapping any data fields in the common schema to attributes that are common across a single repository type among the one or more repository types of the disparate repositories; and 
 mapping any data fields in the common schema that are common in a single repository of the disparate repositories. 
 
 
     
     
       4. The method according to  claim 3 , wherein an attribute of the attributes is not mapped to any of the data fields in the common schema and wherein the creating the federated retention policy further comprises:
 creating a data field in the common schema; and 
 mapping the data field in the common schema to the attribute. 
 
     
     
       5. The method according to  claim 1 , wherein the disparate repositories comprise a first repository that requires a data field for indicating a phase of a multi-phase policy and a second repository that does not have a data field for indicating a phase of a multi-phase policy. 
     
     
       6. The method according to  claim 1 , wherein the disparate repositories comprise at least two different repository types. 
     
     
       7. The method according to  claim 1 , wherein the disparate repositories are located in disparate physical locations. 
     
     
       8. A system, comprising:
 a processor; 
 a non-transitory computer-readable medium; and 
 instructions stored on the non-transitory computer-readable medium and translatable by the processor for:
 receiving, through a user interface, a change to a retention period specified in a federated retention policy, wherein the federated retention policy utilizes a common schema to describe attributes across disparate repositories associated with the federated retention policy, the federated retention policy stored in a federated storage, the disparate repositories residing in a distributed network computing environment and employing different repository schemas comprising the attributes; and 
 responsive to the change to the retention period specified in the federated retention policy, automatically propagating the change to the retention period specified in the federated retention policy to the disparate repositories, the automatically propagating including:
 updating one or more rules of the federated retention policy to reflect the change to the retention period; 
 storing the updated federated retention policy in the federated storage; and 
 communicating the updated federated retention policy, through a compliance service, to a retention policy service, wherein the retention policy service stores the updated federated retention policy in the federated storage, wherein the updated federated retention policy stored by the retention policy service is subsequently retrieved and pushed through an orchestrator to the disparate repositories in the distributed network computing environment, thereby synchronizing the updated federated retention policy to the disparate repositories, wherein the evaluation and application of the one or more rules of the updated federated retention policy is performed by the disparate repositories. 
 
 
 
     
     
       9. The system of  claim 8 , wherein the common schema comprises data fields having names consistent across different repository types. 
     
     
       10. The system of  claim 9 , wherein the instructions are further translatable by the processor for:
 creating the federated retention policy by:
 mapping any data fields in the common schema to attributes that are common to the disparate repositories; 
 mapping any data fields in the common schema to attributes that are common to one or more repository types of the disparate repositories; 
 mapping any data fields in the common schema to attributes that are common across a single repository type among the one or more repository types of the disparate repositories; and 
 mapping any data fields in the common schema that are common in a single repository of the disparate repositories. 
 
 
     
     
       11. The system of  claim 10 , wherein an attribute of the attributes is not mapped to any of the data fields in the common schema and wherein the creating the federated retention policy further comprises:
 creating a data field in the common schema; and 
 mapping the data field in the common schema to the attribute. 
 
     
     
       12. The system of  claim 8 , wherein the disparate repositories comprise a first repository that requires a data field for indicating a phase of a multi-phase policy and a second repository that does not have a data field for indicating a phase of a multi-phase policy. 
     
     
       13. The system of  claim 8 , wherein the disparate repositories comprise at least two different repository types. 
     
     
       14. The system of  claim 8 , wherein the disparate repositories are located in disparate physical locations. 
     
     
       15. A computer program product comprising a non-transitory computer-readable medium storing instructions translatable by a processor for:
 receiving, through a user interface, a change to a retention period specified in a federated retention policy, wherein the federated retention policy utilizes a common schema to describe attributes across disparate repositories associated with the federated retention policy, the federated retention policy stored in a federated storage, the disparate repositories residing in a distributed network computing environment and employing different repository schemas comprising the attributes; and 
 responsive to the change to the retention period specified in the federated retention policy, automatically propagating the change to the retention period specified in the federated retention policy to the disparate repositories, the automatically propagating including:
 updating one or more rules of the federated retention policy to reflect the change to the retention period; 
 storing the updated federated retention policy in the federated storage; and 
 communicating the updated federated retention policy, through a compliance service, to a retention policy service, wherein the retention policy service stores the updated federated retention policy in the federated storage, wherein the updated federated retention policy stored by the retention policy service is subsequently retrieved and pushed through an orchestrator to the disparate repositories in the distributed network computing environment, thereby synchronizing the updated federated retention policy to the disparate repositories, wherein the evaluation and application of the one or more rules of the updated federated retention policy is performed by the disparate repositories. 
 
 
     
     
       16. The computer program product of  claim 15 , wherein the common schema comprises data fields having names consistent across different repository types. 
     
     
       17. The computer program product of  claim 16 , wherein the instructions are further translatable by the processor for:
 creating the federated retention policy by:
 mapping any data fields in the common schema to attributes that are common to the disparate repositories; 
 mapping any data fields in the common schema to attributes that are common to one or more repository types of the disparate repositories; 
 mapping any data fields in the common schema to attributes that are common across a single repository type among the one or more repository types of the disparate repositories; and 
 mapping any data fields in the common schema that are common in a single repository of the disparate repositories. 
 
 
     
     
       18. The computer program product of  claim 17 , wherein an attribute of the attributes is not mapped to any of the data fields in the common schema and wherein the creating the federated retention policy further comprises:
 creating a data field in the common schema; and 
 mapping the data field in the common schema to the attribute. 
 
     
     
       19. The computer program product of  claim 15 , wherein the disparate repositories comprise a first repository that requires a data field for indicating a phase of a multi-phase policy and a second repository that does not have a data field for indicating a phase of a multi-phase policy. 
     
     
       20. The computer program product of  claim 15 , wherein the disparate repositories comprise at least two different repository types.